Keywords
Summary

Keywords

1. Environment — Waste — Directive 75/442 on waste — Annex IIB — Recovery operations — Recycling or reclamation of metals and metal compounds and of other inorganic materials — Notion — Inclusion of the notion of re-use — (Council Directive 75/442, Art. 3(1)(b), and Annex IIB, points R4 and R5)

2. Environment — Wastes — Directive 75/442 on waste — Annexes IIA and IIB — Distinction between disposal and recovery operations — Case-by-case classification — Criteria — Main objective of the operation — (Directive 75/442, Annexes IIA and IIB)

3. Environment — Waste — Regulation No 259/93 on shipments of waste — Classification of a waste treatment operation — Differing classifications by the competent authorities of dispatch and destination — Precedence of one over the other — None — (Council Regulation No 259/93)

4. Environment — Waste — Regulation No 259/93 on shipments of waste — Classification of a proposal to ship waste by the notifier — Erroneous classification — Obligation for the competent authority to base its opposition to the shipment solely on that error of classification — (Council Regulation No 259/93, Art. 4(2) and (3))

5. Environment — Waste — Regulation No 259/93 on shipments of waste — Shipment of waste oils with PCB concentrations in excess of the required standard — Illegal waste traffic — Obligation for the competent authority to raise an objection on the sole ground of that illegality — (Council Regulation No 259/93, Art. 26(1)(e); Council Directive 75/439, Art. 8(2)(b))

Summary

1. Recovery operations entailing the recycling or reclamation of metals and metal compounds or the recycling or reclamation of other inorganic materials, as referred to in R4 and R5 of Annex IIB to Directive 75/442 on waste, as amended by Directive 91/156 and by Decision 96/350, may also cover the " re-use" referred to in Article 3(1)(b)(i) of that directive. Those operations do not necessarily imply that the substance in question undergoes processing, can be used several times or can subsequently be reclaimed.

see para. 90, operative part 1

2. A waste treatment operation may not be classified simultaneously as both disposal and recovery within the meaning of Directive 75/442, as amended by Directive 91/156 and Decision 96/350. Where an operation, having regard solely to its wording, may a priori be covered by a disposal operation set out in Annex IIA to that directive or a recovery operation referred to in Annex IIB to that directive, it must be ascertained on a case-by-case basis whether the main objective of the operation in question is that the waste serves a useful purpose, by replacing the use of other materials which would have had to be used to fulfil that function, and in such a case to uphold the classification as recovery.

see para. 99, operative part 2

3. It follows from the system put in place by Regulation No 259/93 on the supervision and control of shipments of waste within, into and out of the European Community that the classification chosen by the competent authorities of the Member State of destination as regards a given operation does not prevail over the classification chosen by the competent authorities of the Member State of dispatch, any more than the classification chosen by the latter prevails over that chosen by the competent authorities of the Member State of destination.

see para. 103, operative part 3

4. It follows from the system put in place by Regulation No 259/93 on the supervision and control of shipments of waste within, into and out of the European Community that, when the competent authority of the Member State of dispatch considers that the purpose of a waste shipment has been incorrectly classified as recovery in the notification, that authority must base its objection to the shipment on the ground of that error in classification, without reference to a particular provision of that regulation which, like Article 4(3)(b)(i) thereof, defines the objections which Member States may make to shipments of waste for disposal.

see para. 112, operative part 4

5. Having regard to Article 8(2)(b) of Directive 75/439 on the disposal of waste oils, as amended by Directive 87/101, the shipment of waste oils containing more than 50 ppm of PCB for use as a fuel constitutes illegal traffic in waste within the meaning of Article 26(1)(e) of Regulation No 259/93 on the supervision and control of shipments of waste within, into and out of the European Community, to which the competent authority of dispatch is required to object on the sole ground of that illegality, without reference to any of the specific provisions of that regulation setting out the objections which Member States may raise to waste shipments.

see para. 123, operative part 5